Tales From The Whale's Mouth
by Corey5268
Summary: Oneshots, perhaps a few interconnected drabbles about the crew of the Leviathan.
1. Returning Home

A/N: As I have an inability to update things in a timely manner, I'm entering the world of oneshots/various drabbles. Hooray for my lack of commitment! Bonus points to anyone who can figure out what song this is inspired by. I've read Goliath by the way. Spoilers! A few months pass between the end of Goliath and the beginning of this. Please pardon the (possibly) bad German.

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><p>Deryn Sharp was twenty three feet in the air, upside down, and thinking about life. She was Deryn once again. For now, she wasn't Midshipman Dylan Sharp: decorated soldier who faked his age to fly. As she dangled from the thick tree branch, she observed her surroundings. Glasgow, Scotland...her old home. Nostalgia washed over her in waves. She grew up here and would only be spending three more days here before the start of her new job. Three more days until the soft grass under her bare feet became unfeeling streets. The original two weeks ticked into mere days far too quickly. <em>The lady boffin was probably right, making me go home before we head to London. Ma didn't know whether I was dead or alive<em>. _She would have gone barking mad if Alek wasn't there when I came home._

x x x x x x

Mrs. Sharp didn't know whether to laugh, cry, scream, or faint. After a year, her cross-dressing daughter had returned home from war with nothing but a medal and a quiet "Ma, I'm home," as if she were returning from school. The bewildered woman settled on the first three.

"Deryn Alana Sharp, how dare you walk in here without so much as a letter in six months! You could have fallen off of one of those bloody airships!" The tirade continued as she engulfed her daughter in a suffocating hug.

"Ma..." As Deryn started struggling free, Mrs. Sharp looked up and took notice of the young man standing just inside the door. He was awkwardly shifting his gaze between the two women and the floor, grasping his elbow with his opposite hand.

"Who is that? You brought home a boy? Why is he so nervous? He got you pregnant, didn't he? God only knows how you got pregnant dressed up as—"

"Blisters, Ma! I'm not pregnant! I brought 'this boy' home because I thought you might like to be introduced to His Serene Highness over there," Deryn gestured behind her. "Prince Aleksander Ferdinand of Hohenberg; my best friend is standing at your doorstep, and all you can do is accuse him of getting me pregnant!"

Deryn's mother stood aghast. A thick silence fell over the room as Mrs. Sharp blinked repeatedly. Eventually, she managed to compose herself enough to talk to the boy.

"Hello, Your Highness. Celia Sharp." She weakly extended her hand. Alek, still terrified —though significantly more embarrassed than when he walked in— shook her hand.

"Please, call me Alek. No need for titles now that I'm not going to become an emperor." He mumbled disappointedly. Deryn snorted.

"If you don't mind my asking, why did you abdicate the throne?" Celia's eyes grew wide as Deryn turned red. The corners of Alek's mouth turned upwards as he glanced shyly at her daughter. She promptly regretted not passing out when her daughter walked through the door. She decided it would be best for everyone if she excused herself to go lie down with a cool compress. As soon as she was out of earshot, Deryn turned to Alek.

"That went better than expected." She smirked.

"Bist du verrückt? Ich denke ich habe sie umgebracht!" He sat on the stairs with his head in his hands.

"Let's put it this way," Deryn sat next to him and gently lifted his head up. "Are you still standing here?"

"Yes."

"Am I in a dress?"

"No."

"Then you have nothing to worry about." She kissed him gently and went to check on her mother. Alek ran his fingers through his dark coppery-brown hair. After she left, he whispered softly.

"Ich werde nie aufhören, sich Sorgen um dich."

x x x x x x

A bird calling from the other side of the tree nearly startled her enough to release her grip. With a sigh, the blonde righted herself. Deryn traced the pattern of a small "X" in the tree trunk. This was the first tree she ever climbed. Almost a decade old, the "X", though it was much higher off the ground, marked the spot where she fell out of the tree and broke her arm. As her father rushed over to her, Jaspert scrambled up the tree with his pocketknife. While the doctor set her arm, her big brother explained how he marked where she left off. She would know when she got even closer to the sky.

Climbing even higher up, Deryn could see for miles around. Last night, she told Alek about how, when she was little, she used to sit up on the hill in the distance and dream that she had wings.

x x x x x x

Her mother had shoved her into skirts again. They had gotten more poofy since she left for war. _At least I missed the hobble skirt_. She shuddered at the idea. _How are you supposed to run in that thing?_ Why Mrs. Sharp was so insistent on the dress and high heels for a simple walk in town was beyond her. Who really cared if they thought her a boy? Nevertheless, she wore them. The second she was beyond the paved streets, she took those sodding shoes off. Leaning against a lamppost, the dim light made it hard to unfasten the buckles. It was well worth the struggle. Nobody had to know that she put them back on while walking down the path to her home.

Shoes in one hand, Alek's hand in the other, Deryn wiggled her toes and let out a sigh of contentment.

"Do you see that hill up ahead? When I was younger, I would go up there and watch the clouds. I would stay up there until the clouds became stars, and dream that I had wings to fly to them. I ran up that hill, thinking that if I went fast enough, I would take off. I can run up a hill faster than anyone in this city. You probably can't get up there faster than me either."

"Do you honestly think that you can beat me to the top that hill? You're just a _girl_ after all. A girl in _skirts_!" Alek's eyes twinkled. Midshipman Sharp came burning through at that moment.

"Aye, dummkopf! Skirts or not, I will beat you, and you will cry like a lassie. Why? 'Cause I was a _boy_ when I learned how to run!" With that, she took off. Though the two were now the same height, Deryn's long legs gave her an advantage. When he finally caught up, he dove at her legs, driving both of them to the ground. After struggling and much laughter, Alek had Deryn pinned beneath him.

"Admit that you cheated."

"You're full of clart!" She lifted her head slightly to kiss him. Alek met her halfway. Using the slight shift of his weight to his advantage, she twisted and managed to knock him over. With a gentle push, he rolled back down the hill like a log.

"Who was it that cheated, your princeliness?" The prince flipped onto his back. Deryn did the only reasonable thing she could think of in that situation...she rolled down the hill the same way that he did. Lying next to Alek at the bottom of the hill, Deryn rest her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Alek admitted his defeat with honor.

x x x x x x

Deryn and a tree against the world. That was how it had always been. The tree was part of her home. She had escaped into it when her brother's teasing had gone too far, or her mother lectured her about her tomboyishness. The bark soaked up her tears when her father died. If she needed to fly, the tree was there. The tree didn't judge her; the tree didn't take sides. It wasn't a fabricated Darwinist tree, or an engine-powered Clanker tree...it simply was. It's only objective was to be; to exist. Deryn took comfort in that.

At long last, the time came to shimmy out of the tree. When she got to the final branch, Deryn hesitated...getting back to the earth below was always more difficult than leaving it behind. A small cough came from below her. His Serene Highness himself was sitting against the tree with a book on his lap. He stood up.

"Jump." He instructed, holding his arms out.

"Jump?"

"Yes. Jump. I'll catch you!" Deryn looked skeptical.

"Deryn, no matter how high you climb, I promise that I will always be waiting at the bottom in case you fall. Now jump!"

This tree held more memories than she could count. This tree would always be there for her...in some ways, the tree was more like her home than the stone building a few paces away. Soon she would be leaving for London with a boy and a boffin, and the tree might never get to be her home again. The thought frightened her for a minute; only for a minute. Her true home was where her heart was. Once upon a time, her heart was set here in Scotland. Her heart used to call her back to this town, this yard, and this tree. Her heart was on the Leviathan for over a year. Now she knew: her heart was in the safe possession of the young man standing beneath her, patiently waiting. Wherever he was, her home would be too. She wasn't scared anymore.

Deryn took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped from the branch.


	2. Please?

A/N: For now, I think I'm going to stay in the same universe as Returning Home (I screwed up the timing on that, by the way. I meant a year, not a few months), and do some loosely connected one-shots. Allons-y!

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><p>Aleksander von Hohenberg wasn't sure how he should be classified. He had seen far more in his (<strong>almost<strong>) eighteen years than many men had in their entire lives. At (**nearly**) sixteen, his parents were brutally murdered and he became an outcast. Within a year, he had fought battles, saved lives, fallen in love, been _extremely_ confused about his sexual orientation, killed a man, abdicated a throne, and flown in a giant whale. He had grown up, but not everyone understood that. So many people glanced at him and assumed that he was still a silly teenage boy.

Yes, that was his problem. People looked at the age and not the person. Alek continued his pacing in the Sharp's garden. Despite years of being told that royalty must never show fear, he couldn't hide his nervousness. The only thing he needed was for Jaspert to take him seriously for five minutes, and he was in the clear.

Taking a deep breath, Alek turned to Jaspert. The family resemblance was evident. Golden hair, turquoise eyes...it made the whole ordeal much more difficult.

"Jaspert, what do you honestly think of me?" Deryn's doppelgänger raised an eyebrow. A moment of silence followed as the question was considered.

"You're a decent lad, I suppose. I can't honestly say I know you very well, but you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. I think you're good for my sister...you keep her grounded, you know?"

"So you like me then?"

"Aye...where are you going with this?" Alek sat down on the wooden bench next to Jaspert. The prince took a deep breath.

"I have a very important question to ask you."

"Your Highness! This is all going so fast!" Jaspert squealed like a girl and broke into a huge grin. Alek coughed politely. "Well _I_ thought it was funny. You _did_ fall in love with a cross-dresser, after all."

"That is true," Alek admitted. "That is the reason we are having this conversation, actually."

"Is it? Is there something that you need to tell me?" Jaspert smirked. He wanted to see the prince squirm...and squirm Alek did. Alek opened his mouth to continue and promptly shut it, only to open it again a few seconds later.

"I..uh...was thinking that perhaps...if you would...permit it...er..." Alek stumbled over his words.

"Permit what, exactly?" The eldest Sharp sibling was relentless.

Alek all but exploded. Standing up from the bench, he faced Jaspert and yelled, "Gottes Wunden! Wir beide wissen, was ich versuche zu sagen. Ich würde wirklich zu schätzen Ihre Mitarbeit! Kann ich bitte fragen Sie Deryn, mich zu heiraten?"

"Aye...that's all well and good, but you seem to forget that I don't even speak a squick of Clanker." Alek took a deep breath to compose himself.

"Jaspert, I love your sister. I have grown as a person since meeting her. She's been there for me through some of the lowest points in my life, and I would do anything for her. A life without Deryn is not a life that I would want to live. If I have your permission in doing so, I intend on asking her to be my her my wife when the opportunity presents itself." Jaspert rose from the bench and extended his hand towards Alek. Alek shook it firmly, finally relaxing again.

"You have my full approval." Jaspert checked his pocket watch. "Seeing as we have some time before my sister comes home, I'm going to take you to the pub. Why? Because there's something that you need to do before you leave for London. You might as well get it over with, and you'll probably need a few pints to make it through." The ex-heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was confused.

"What exactly do I have to do?" The blonde boy put his arm around the monarch's shoulder.

"You see —you poor sod— it's not really my permission that you need to marry Deryn. You need my Ma's approval." The color drained from the prince's face.

"Scheisse."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Mrs. Sharp was in the kitchen when Alek and Jaspert returned home. Jaspert wished the younger boy luck and went up to his room. Alek entered the kitchen and engaged in polite, if not slightly awkward, small talk with Celia while she cooked. Noticing that the pieces meat that Mrs. Sharp was mincing were of unusual shapes and colors, Alek was curious.

"What are you making for dinner, Mrs. Sharp?"

"Sweetie, _please_ call me Celia. I'm making my world-famous haggis. I hope you're hungry!" He tried not to show his apprehension. He had managed to avoid eating haggis for two weeks, and had no plans of eating any now. Perhaps he would fake an upset stomach. "Alek, please make yourself useful and take the stomach out of that bowl for me." She gestured towards a bowl on the other side of the kitchen that contained a floating blob. Wincing, he did as he was told. Avoiding a glance at it, he plunged his hands into the icy water and grasped the organ.

"Celia," he started, carrying the stomach to the counter. "I have a question to ask you."

"Aye?" Mrs. Sharp added each organ to a mixing bowl as she finished cutting it. She started cutting the tongue as Alek resumed speaking.

"As you know, despite the fact that Deryn and I have only known each other a little more than a year, I love her with all my heart." Celia stopped cutting and turned towards the boy. "I would take a bullet for her without a second thought, and you **know** that I do not take that promise lightly. I doubt that I'll ever meet anyone as beautiful and kind-hearted as your daughter again in my lifetime. I have no idea when we'll be back here again, so I'm taking this opportunity to ask for your blessing. Some day, I wish to have the honor of being wed to your daughter...if she permits it, that is."

Aleksandar Ferdinand Karl Franz Michael Hubert Anton Ignatius Joseph Maria von Hohenberg had only been hugged with such ferocity two other times in his life. The first was by his mother, when he had rolled down the stairs in his childhood hom, and cracked his head open. She was thankful that somehow, he didn't break his neck. The second was from Deryn. Last week, the two went swimming in the river and he took his shirt off before jumping in. Both times, he heard "lieber Gott, danke!" before being attacked. Mrs. Sharp also seemed to be thanking God for a miracle.

Unfortunately for Alek, in her joy, Mrs. Sharp forgot to put down the tongue that was going in the haggis...the tongue that was now pressed against the bottom of his neck. He had to use every ounce of willpower in his body, and every second of his etiquette training to keep himself from vomiting on his future mother-in-law.

"Alek, I was beginning to think that I was never going to have a grandchild from her! If you had three legs, webbed fingers, blue skin, and an eye growing out of your forehead, I'd still let you marry her!" He wondered when she would realize that there was a tongue in her hand.

"Thank you, ma'am. That's the reason my father wished to avoid inbreeding. Don't expect a grandchild anytime soon...though I definitely want children in the future, I don't plan on asking Deryn for her hand until long after she turns seventeen, and it may be years after that until she is ready to settle down." Alek truly meant what he said: he wanted children very badly. If Deryn didn't want kids, he didn't... oh god, the tongue was still there.

"Not to worry, I think Jaspert might be planning on eloping with his lass. Where there is an elopement, there will soon be children. I shall have to pretend to be surprised on both accounts." The more time he spent with Celia, the more he could see that she was Deryn's mother, even if they did tend to butt heads. Eventually she released him from her iron grip.

"I wish you luck in your endeavors, ma'am." Alek winked at the woman as he turned to leave the kitchen.

"Alek, sweetie, dinner will be at 6:00."

"I will be there. Please don't expect me to eat much though. I'm incredibly queasy from this whole ordeal." Mainly from the tongue, but she didn't have to know that.

"You didn't seem that nervous. Are you sure that you're not just trying to get out of eating the haggis?" The older woman joked.

"I am positive. I talked to Jaspert about Deryn before I talked to you, actually." Mrs. Sharp laughed and expressed her pity. Alek smiled one last time before going to scrub the back of his neck and change his shirt. Sitting on his bed, he chuckled quietly. He was grateful for the practice that the year of lying for Deryn brought. She made a graceful liar out of him.

Alek: 1, Haggis: 0.


End file.
